HOW often in our shortsightedness do the ways of the Lord appear to us mysterious, but could we see behind the clouds we should not only see that every cloud has a silver lining, but that the ways of the Lord are perfect, and all His dispensations fraught with loving-kindness and mercy, and that into the warp and woof of our lives are interwoven His grace and tender mercy. This is abundantly exemplified in the Lord’s dealings with the subject of this short narrative.
It was early in the month of September 1865, during a visit to a town on the sea coast of England, that I met with a poor man named Knott, who, though much afflicted, yet greatly rejoiced in the God of his salvation.
Before his conversion, this man was one of the lowest characters in the town, and guilty of the most impure and profane language.
How he got his living in the winter it is difficult to conjecture, but during the summer he obtained a livelihood by letting out donkeys on the sands.
But the Lord who is “merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth... forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin” (Ex. 34:66And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, (Exodus 34:6)) had mercy upon him, and during the latter years of his life brought him to a knowledge of Himself in a somewhat remarkable way.
When I called to see him. I found him in a little back room on the first floor of a very poor dwelling, sitting on a chair, with very little else in the room than a bedstead, and a large old Bible, which was propped up in front of him in another chair. His hands and feet were greatly crippled, and it was with difficulty that he managed to turn over the pages of the dear old book.
It was painful to see his palsied limbs, which were constantly shaking, causing the perspiration to roll down his poor old face.
Taking a seat beside him, and expressing my sympathy with him in his great affliction, and seeking to comfort him with some suitable portions of Scripture, imagine my surprise when he broke forth in the following language: “For our light affliction which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen, for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal,” his face being lit up with a joy that filled his whole soul, rejoicing in Him who had called him “out of darkness into his Marvelous light.”
Let me pause, dear reader, and ask you if this is not a triumph of the grace of God that could change this poor degraded blasphemer, whose lips had been so long accustomed to oaths and curses, into a humble believer, whose delight was to utter the praises of God in the midst of his trials, which he endured so patiently, not a murmur escaping his lips. Never before or since have I witnessed such a miracle of grace. Deep was the lesson I learned that day of God’s exceeding great power and grace. Seated in front of that small bedroom window, with nothing to look upon but the chimney-stacks of adjacent houses and a tiny peep of the sky, Knott rejoiced in God.
I cannot attempt to give you the many passages of Scripture he repeated, and from which he evidently drew much comfort, shut up in his little prison-room without the slightest hope of recovery. Truly a prisoner of the Lord, as he loved to style himself, he was sustained by the “blessed hope” that at any moment the Lord Himself might descend into the air, and that he might be caught up “to meet the Lord in the air and so ever be with the Lord.”
In conversation one day I said to him, “Well, how old are you? To which he at once replied,” Sixty in Adam and five in Christ.” At this answer I was greatly struck. How clearly it demonstrated that in his mind there was no uncertainty as to the time and reality of his conversion, or the consciousness of his acceptance in Christ.
Now I feel sure, dear reader, you will be interested to know how his conversion took place, which let me give you, as nearly as I can, in the language in which he gave it to me.
“About five years ago,” he said, “while sitting in this chair I dropped off to sleep, when suddenly I was awakened by the shining of a very bright light upon me, which seemed to penetrate into my soul. Whether it was a light from heaven or no I could not tell, but being awakened I was much troubled, a deep feeling coming over me that I was in the presence of God.”
At once all his sinful life rose up before him. Convicted in his conscience and greatly distressed in spirit, he could only say, like Job, “Behold, I am vile,” or with Isaiah, “Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.”
Now, my dear reader, may I ask you if you have ever passed through an experience like this? Have you at any time realized that you were in the presence of God, which made you feel how vile and sinful you were? Happy indeed if you have, and, like poor Knott, have also turned to the Lord Jesus Christ in true repentance and subjection of heart.
A dear friend of mine, who visited him about the same time or shortly after, informed me that he went to see him with the hope of helping him in the things of the Lord, but it turned out quite the opposite, for he came away feeling how very greatly he had himself been helped, and left his bedside that day full of that truth which filled the soul of the dear sufferer with such ecstasy, viz., the coming of the Lord.
During my friend’s visit, Knott’s wife entered the room, and commenced speaking of her husband as “a funny old man, who had got hold of something about the coming of some Great One, who loves him and died for him, and who has told him that He is coming for him.” And she added that the last thing at night, when the candle is put out, he insists on the blind being drawn up to the top. “Yes,” chimed in her husband, “I want to have the first peep of Him, that precious One who is my Saviour and Friend.”
My friend left that room deeply impressed with the fact that the one he had visited was not only waiting, but watching for the Lord’s return. Notwithstanding his infirmities, when apparently on the verge of eternity, he looked not for death, but the coming of One whom he esteemed as the chiefest among ten thousand, and altogether lovely.
During the five years following his conversion, confined in that little gloomy back room, without any one to instruct him, yet taught by the greatest of all teachers, “the Spirit of truth,” it was astonishing what progress he had made in the knowledge of God and the precious principles of His truth. His knowledge of the Scriptures was very great, not in the letter only, but in the spirit.
Especially dear to his heart was the Lord’s coming, which ever sustained him through the wearisome days of his suffering, and filled him with a “joy unspeakable, and full of glory.”
Glad indeed was he to see all who came to him, speaking to them of “the kingdom of God, and those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Thus he spent the few remaining days of his pilgrimage here, until the Lord released him from that poor, suffering body, and took him to be with Himself, “where there is no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away” (Rev. 21:44And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. (Revelation 21:4)).
Thoughtful reader, may I be permitted to ask you, after reading this short account of the Lord’s dealings with poor Knott, are you looking for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, and rejoicing in hope of the glory of God. If not, why not? Let me tell you that the door of mercy by which you may enter into the blessings of forgiveness, pardon, and peace, through the precious blood of Christ, is open still. Yea, wide open; but remember, “when once the master of the house is risen up and shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without and to knock at the door, saying Lord, Lord, open unto us, and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are” (Luke 13:2525When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are: (Luke 13:25)), then will be uttered those dreadful words, “Take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matt. 22:1313Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 22:13)).
E. M.